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Ripple WJ, Newsome TM, Wolf C, et al. Collapse of the world's largest herbivores. Sci Adv. 2015;1(4):e1400103doi: 10.1126/sciadv.1400103.
Ripple, W. J., Newsome, T. M., Wolf, C., Dirzo, R., Everatt, K. T., Galetti, M., Hayward, M. W., Kerley, G. I., Levi, T., Lindsey, P. A., Macdonald, D. W., Malhi, Y., Painter, L. E., Sandom, C. J., Terborgh, J., & Van Valkenburgh, B. (2015). Collapse of the world's largest herbivores. Science advances, 1(4), e1400103. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.1400103
Ripple, William J, et al. "Collapse of the world's largest herbivores." Science advances vol. 1,4 (2015): e1400103. doi: https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.1400103
Ripple WJ, Newsome TM, Wolf C, Dirzo R, Everatt KT, Galetti M, Hayward MW, Kerley GI, Levi T, Lindsey PA, Macdonald DW, Malhi Y, Painter LE, Sandom CJ, Terborgh J, Van Valkenburgh B. Collapse of the world's largest herbivores. Sci Adv. 2015 May 01;1(4):e1400103. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.1400103. eCollection 2015 May. PMID: 26601172; PMCID: PMC4640652.
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Sci Adv. 2015 May 01;1(4):e1400103. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.1400103. eCollection 2015 May.

Collapse of the world's largest herbivores.

Science advances

William J Ripple, Thomas M Newsome, Christopher Wolf, Rodolfo Dirzo, Kristoffer T Everatt, Mauro Galetti, Matt W Hayward, Graham I H Kerley, Taal Levi, Peter A Lindsey, David W Macdonald, Yadvinder Malhi, Luke E Painter, Christopher J Sandom, John Terborgh, Blaire Van Valkenburgh

Affiliations

  1. Trophic Cascades Program, Department of Forest Ecosystems and Society, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331, USA.
  2. Trophic Cascades Program, Department of Forest Ecosystems and Society, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331, USA. ; Desert Ecology Research Group, School of Biological Sciences, The University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales 2006, Australia.
  3. Department of Biology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.
  4. Centre for African Conservation Ecology, Department of Zoology, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, Port Elizabeth 6031, South Africa.
  5. Departamento de Ecologia, Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP), C.P. 199, Rio Claro, São Paulo 13506-900, Brazil.
  6. Centre for African Conservation Ecology, Department of Zoology, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, Port Elizabeth 6031, South Africa. ; College of Natural Sciences, Bangor University, Thoday Building, Deiniol Road, Bangor, Gwynedd LL572UW, UK.
  7. Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331, USA.
  8. Lion Program, Panthera, 8 West 40th Street, 18th Floor, New York, NY 10018, USA. ; Mammal Research Institute, Department of Zoology and Entomology, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, Gauteng 0001, South Africa.
  9. Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Recanati-Kaplan Centre, Tubney House, Tubney, Abingdon OX13 5QL, UK.
  10. Environmental Change Institute, School of Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3QY, UK.
  11. Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences, Duke University, P. O. Box 90381, Durham, NC 27708, USA.
  12. Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095-7239, USA.

PMID: 26601172 PMCID: PMC4640652 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.1400103

Abstract

Large wild herbivores are crucial to ecosystems and human societies. We highlight the 74 largest terrestrial herbivore species on Earth (body mass ≥100 kg), the threats they face, their important and often overlooked ecosystem effects, and the conservation efforts needed to save them and their predators from extinction. Large herbivores are generally facing dramatic population declines and range contractions, such that ~60% are threatened with extinction. Nearly all threatened species are in developing countries, where major threats include hunting, land-use change, and resource depression by livestock. Loss of large herbivores can have cascading effects on other species including large carnivores, scavengers, mesoherbivores, small mammals, and ecological processes involving vegetation, hydrology, nutrient cycling, and fire regimes. The rate of large herbivore decline suggests that ever-larger swaths of the world will soon lack many of the vital ecological services these animals provide, resulting in enormous ecological and social costs.

Keywords: defaunation; endangerment; extinction; habitat loss; hunting; large herbivores; megafauna; trophic cascades

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